Us Four. By S. Macnaughtan. (John Murray. 6s.)—The " Four"
whose sayings and doings are recorded in this volume are the author and her sisters. We are at a loss how to class the book ; it is a chronicle rather than a novel; the interest would vanish if we did not believe it to be true. But we may say that it differs from the chronicle pure and simple, as a portrait presented by some really great artist differs from a photograph. But there is no need to trouble about what Us Four is or is not. It is enough that it is the best 'of reading. The nursery and the schoolroom life of the "Four," their doings out of doors, their church-going, in short, all their experiences of child- hood, are given with an admirable simplicity which never fails to be artistic. The dominating figure, apart from the "Four," is of course "Nurse," an austere, tyrannical personage of a type which is now, we fancy, very rare. We must not forget to mention the sympathetic sketch of the governess, "one of the most human as well as one of the most inspiring people I have ever met," says Miss Macnaughtan ; and this though she had been at the work for forty years.
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